Esko Digital Flexo news

Flexo plates of Médialliance meet high client demands with Esko XPS Crystal

Motivated to secure its pole position in the packaging industry, French print service provider Médialliance Graphic purchased the Esko XPS Crystal exposure device for flexo plates.

Jérôme Gros, Commercial Director at Médialliance, is convinced that Médialliance is now better equipped to meet the high quality standards set by some of its large accounts, thanks to the superb flexo plates produced with the XPS Crystal and a vast range of Esko software tools.

Jérome Grôs 

“Investing in the kind of technological solutions that Esko is able to offer means not only helping the business to grow, but also helping our clients to increase their impact and stand out within highly competitive markets."

Jérôme Gros, Directeur Commercial Associé, Médialliance Graphic, France

Coveris wins Gold Award utilizing Esko Print Control Wizard software

Coveris, a leading European packaging manufacturer, was the proud winner of a Gold Award at the European Flexographic Industry Association (EFIA) 2019 awards.

Andy Wilson, Group Color Director at Coveris, believes his company delivered excellent results on its entry of a narrow web label because it was printed with Esko Print Control Wizard software.

Andy Wilson 

“Over the past 3 years we’ve trialed a number of different screening technologies to improve our highlight reproduction and the best results by far have been from Esko. Using Esko Crystal screening, in combination with the Esko XPS Crystal exposure frame, we’ve achieved the best results so far with starting dots now at 4-5%, compared with 10-15% previously.”

Andy Wilson, Group Color Director, Coveris, UK

Comparative analysis: UV LED outperforms conventional flexo plate exposure

Since printers always seek to reduce costs and increase capacity, continuous research and development into new technology is the best guarantee to improve operational efficiency.

This study compares conventional exposure and cold conventional exposure of flexo plates against the Esko XPS Crystal, which uses UV LED technology.

Pascal Thomas, Director Product Management Prepress & Platemaking at Esko, demonstrates how sharper and more uniform dots across the full tonal range, and higher plate floor consistency, validate that the Esko XPS Crystal exposure unit provides a more consistent method of plate exposure.

Pascal Thomas 

“The ultimate business impact of the XPS Crystal plate exposure system being able to create the most consistent flexographic plates, is an improvement in press uptime, creating an increase in overall capacity.”

Pascal Thomas, Director Product Management Prepress & Platemaking at Esko

Boost accuracy and efficiency in the prepress department

Longtime users avidly testify: Adopting the Esko PDF-native prepress editing software, ArtPro+, reduces lead times and increases operational efficiency. The most recent release of ArtPro+ boosts productivity even more with an impressive number of new features and updates.

Frank Woltering, Product Manager Prepress & Platemaking at Esko, highlights some of the coolest additions to the new version of this powerful packaging prepress software.

Frank Woltering 

“ArtPro+ is a simple, efficient and effective tool designed to support customers, whatever their skill level. For those new to the software, this means very little training is required to successfully perform complex prepress tasks.”

Frank Woltering, Product Manager Prepress & Platemaking, Esko

Longo’s customers are delighted with the leap forward in flexo plate quality

Argentina based reprographic specialist, Fotograbados Longo S.A., has equipped itself over time with a range of Esko solutions, both in software and in hardware.

In this video, Sebastian Longo, President of Fotograbados Longo, shares his enthusiasm for his latest investment in an Esko XPS Crystal 5080.

Sebastian Longo 

“Thanks to the superb flexo plate quality, the print quality also improves and remains consistent throughout the entire print production, from the beginning to the end.”

Sebastian Longo, President, Fotograbados Longo, Argentina

The perfect plate for the job: Master all flexo print parameters in an easy-to-use software tool

In flexographic printing many variables need to be controlled. Building an accurate plate curve is the foundation of everything that follows. However, this requires deep flexo know-how of the plate room operator. Until now…

Robert Bruce, Product Manager Prepress & Platemaking at Esko, explains how the new Esko Print Control Wizard software offers the flexographic printing industry a standardized approach to simplify the implementation of screens and dot gain curves in the reprographics process.

Robert Bruce 

“The intuitive user interface of the Print Control Wizard guides you through the plate preparation process. Any operator is now capable of automatically creating premium flexo plates for each application.”

Robert Bruce, Product Manager Prepress & Platemaking at Esko

Athena Graphics has raised flexo plate making to a whole new level

Leading prepress specialist Athena Graphics recently offers its customers flexo plates of unprecedented quality. This has everything to do with deploying the innovative Esko XPS Crystal exposure device in its plate room department.

Ignace Cosaert, Managing Director of Athena Graphics, describes how flexo plate quality has reached a new standard and throughput has significantly accelerated at Athena Graphics.

Ignace Cosaert 

“With the investment in the XPS Crystal we now have more capacity on our three CDIs and we can make the plates to higher quality standards because now we can give front and back exposure simultaneously.”

Ignace Cosaert, Managing Director, Athena Graphics, Belgium

Record number attend world-leading tech event, EskoWorld

The 28th edition of one of the largest technology-focused events in the packaging industry, EskoWorld, once again sustained its yearly growing popularity. EskoWorld brought together 550 brands and their suppliers from across the packaging and print sector to discover, demonstrate and discuss the latest innovations that can add value to their businesses.

Melissa Plemen, Director Marketing North America at Esko, believes the event offered exactly what the participants wanted, since it’s curated alongside and with the input of customers.

Melissa Plemen

“Among their peers, packaging professionals learn how they can gain new capabilities, using Esko tools to deliver error-free packaging for their customers faster than ever before.”

Melissa Plemen, Director Marketing North America at Esko

Schur Pack guarantees on-time delivery thanks to in-house flexo platemaking

Since Schur Pack implemented its own fully automated in-house platemaking department, the company notices an impressive productivity increase. The Esko CDI Crystal XPS at Schur Pack's makes platemaking as simple as ‘Press Start’.

For Lene Hoegh Madsen, Prepress Manager at Schur, the choice to partner up with Esko was obvious, since Esko systematically eliminates manual steps and inefficiencies where possible, making platemaking itself a two-step process.

Lene Hoegh Madsen 

“The CDI Crystal and XPS Crystal are very easy to operate. We can train new operators very fast, and that enables us to make plates at night or early in the morning, and not only when our platemaking expert is in.”

Lene Hoegh Madsen, Prepress Manager, Schur® Star Systems GmbH, Germany

Get inspired in an Esko Customer Experience Center

On a daily basis, users of Esko solutions raise the bar in their field of expertise. Inspired by its global customer base, Esko is on a mission to develop the best possible tools that continuously improve customer impact.

Stijn Govaert, Pre-Sales & Solution Services Manager at Esko, describes how two brand new Esko Customer Experience Centers aim to support Esko customers even more by immersing them in a world of possibilities with the latest Esko innovations in software and hardware.

Stijn Govaert 

“We warmly invite our customers to come and test, learn and get inspired in an Esko Customer Experience Center.”

Stijn Govaert, Pre-Sales & Solution Services Manager at Esko

How to handle packaging projects without adding headcount

Creating packaging requires collaboration and communication. Standard office applications, though, have reached their limits. Not only are they highly inefficient, they are also prone to error. There is a more efficient way of handling packaging projects: with the dedicated packaging management solution, Esko WebCenter.

Karsten Daemen, Junior Product Manager at Esko, takes a closer look at the additions in the latest release of WebCenter 18.1 that guarantee to improve user experience and productivity.

Karsten Daemen 

“Because the social media-inspired UI looks so familiar, WebCenter is extremely easy to adopt by new users.”

Karsten Daemen, Junior Product Manager at Esko

Glatz Klischee marks a quality milestone in flexographic platemaking

Austrian prepress service provider Glatz Klichee felt that traditional light tube exposure units have reached their limits in the plate making process. There were problems with consistency or variations in exposure intensity.

That is the reason why Manfred Schrattenthaler, Managing Director at Glatz Klischee, installed the Esko XPS Crystal flexo plate exposure device. Among many other benefits, the UV LED ensures a constantly uniform output, improving plate exposure quality.

Manfred Schrattenthaler 

“Thanks to this technology, we are now able to supply our clients with standard screens (137/152-line), up to the absolute premium range with 250 lpi. We can deliver the best possible plate quality with the highest level of consistency and repeatability that we have not experienced to date.”

Manfred Schrattenthaler, Managing Director of Glatz Klischee, Austria

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